WAGS 27.04.2022: Rio Arade and Funcho Ramble

 

News You Might Have Missed

While I am ,with increasing anxiousness, sitting here awaiting the possible arrival of the Leader´s report for last Wednesday (they do get later and later, don´t they), my eye has happened to fall on an article of scientific interest in a recent Daily Telegraph, and since all WAGS are by definition people of scientific interest, I thought I would pass on what it said while we are waiting, particularly as I remember we did debate methane gas emissions while on a WAGS walk near the Oriq not too long ago....

“Burping cows given methane-catching masks”

was the eye-catching headline and then we are told that there is an invention which involves fitting innovative methane-catching devices to British herds to reduce their emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas. A start-up company called Zelp uses pioneering technology to convert methane that is burped out by dairy and beef herds into water and carbon dioxide in an attempt to stem emissions. Now I had always been under the impression that cows emitted methane.... how can I express this politely?..... from the rear end, but apparently I am wrong; around 95% of the methane emitted by a cow is thought to come from their mouths and nostrils, i.e more burping than the other.

The device sits round the animal´s head and captures methane emitted when the cow exhales. The gas travels through a micro-sized catalytic converter, and it is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and water vapour. Zelp won GBP 50,000 for their invention under a scheme promoted by the Prince of Wales (who else?) who said the device was “splendid....marvellous!”

Methane is the second-most prevalent global greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, making up a fifth of global emissions; it does not last as long in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, persisting for around a decade, but has a warming effect many times more powerful, we are told.

Meanwhile, in Roslin near Edinburgh, the Scottish scientists who gave us Dolly the cloned sheep continue their efforts to produce a breed of cow which produces no methane at all. Once that is done, they will turn their attention to hot-air Queen Nicola and ........

Ah, here it is, the Leader´s report has arrived ! Just in time; my emission levels were rising alarmingly. Over to Rod.

"Sorry...even later than usual!

"John and Hazel, Maria, Yves, Dina,Terry & Rod gathered at the João de Deus Bar in Messines on a warm spring morning. 

Half the party arrived at the start point beside the Bridge over the River Arade at the top end of Funcho Dam lake. in good time....the other half were delayed by a request for further sightseeing apparently. 

Only a minor delay however before we set off upstream along the river/ lake bank now resplendent in spring flowers. The early concerns about John and Rod's leg ailments, although evident, were not as bad as had been feared and in the end the three-legged solution was not required! 

There was plenty to admire as we wandered along the water edge. Plenty of water there was indeed as the level of Funcho was nowhere near as low as we have seen it in the past.....although that has to be qualified by the knowledge that with probably  little rain before next November the  level by the end of the summer will surely be much lower.   After a while we plodded up the fairly gradual ascent to the frequently visited ruins at the end of the long ridge stretching towards S. Marcos. 

Such is the magnificence of the site we have always wondered what saga has caused  it never to have been bought or rebuilt.  Instead of continuing to the trig point...for once we opted to wind our way down to the valley and enjoy wandering amongst the flowers and fresh spring growth.

No point cistus

A 10 pointer captured by Ingrid in Monchique that morning

From there we ascended to the major track north before turning westwards along a track we had used before. This time however we noticed evidence of the recent creation of fairly basic rural life...a tepee and a children's bouncing frame beside a lake.. very small... with a canoe over which Yves spent a while bouncing flat stones across the water. 

Skipping stones

 There were increased signs of life and eventually a most engaging young man appeared and suggested we take a different fork in the road...evidently to avoid going too close to his rather rudimentary residence. 

He explained  that he and his friends had acquired some 50 hectares of the local countryside and were going to develop a rural tourist resort.  It seemed most unlikely they were employed by Pestana however as the only sign of any mod cons was a  rudimentary loo under construction which would be most unlikely to meet the approval of any environmental department.  

The loo

Well good luck to them anyway!

So on we went with little further distractions until we met the main lakeside track heading back.

The lakeside track...an ironclad fonte

  A minor communication issue caused us to  take two different routes down to the water edge but we all eventually ended up in the same place. In the same place indeed as a couple of stalwart teutons having an early, and totally illegal of course, dip in the lake. 

(Unfortunately Dina´s animated track will not download into the 

blog, but the full track was 7.07 kms while the track taken by the two semi-cripples was 6.60 kms.) 

From there we ambled on back to the cars and returned to the João de Deus  Most affable folk the owners are and their fare is of the best quality and unusually well priced too.

Rod

Tradition restored - he got his bifana first again

Don´t ask !

Post-script: Chris and Rachel were unable to join us as they were busy packing to return to Kenya, but they sent us a car boot load of oranges and grapefruit from their horta which were very well received.

The small ones on the left are Encores and the big ones on the right are Ortaniques. Encore cultivar is a hybrid from California between two types of mandarin (King x Willowleaf). Ortanique, on the other hand, is a hybrid between a mandarin and a sweet orange, also known as "tangor" (tangerine orange), first found in Jamaica. Are Chris and Rachel´s imported from Jamaica, or are they accidental hybrids?